Perception of enjoyment and masking smiles with self-report measures of rating on scales from happiness to negative emotions

Abstract

Previous studies explored individual’s judgment of masking smiles using dichotomous or categorical measures of rating which force individuals to categorize the masking smile into one discrete category. The current study further examined individuals’ ability to distinguish between enjoyment and masking smiles (smiles containing trace of negative emotion) with positive-negative dimensional rating scales. Thirty-two undergraduate students participated in the smile judgment study, which consisted an Enjoyment smile and six masking smiles: a smile with a trace of fear, of disgust, of anger in the brow, anger in the mouth, sadness in the brow and sadness in the mouth. Participants had to evaluate each smile with four different scales, which contained a positive and negative dimension (Happiness and either Fear, Sadness, Anger, and Disgust). Results indicated that participants could distinguish between the masking smiles and enjoyment smiles as they rated the enjoyment smiles more positively than the masking smiles. Participants were most sensitive to masking smiles containing traces of fear as they rated this expression more negatively compared to the other masking smiles. Other than the expression of anger (in the brow), masking smiles were rated more negatively overall than the genuine enjoyment smiles. Finally, response rates were quicker for enjoyment smiles than the masking smiles. Using dimensional measures of rating in the smile judgment task did not change individuals’ judgment of the masking smiles but may change the way the smiles are processed.